


It All Started With a Line of Code

by Lokiismylife27



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Canon? What is this Canon of which you speak?, Gen, Gifts, Jarvis (Iron Man movies) Lives, Not A Fix-It, One Shot, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Protective Stark Industries Employees, R&D team, Team Tony, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, even though Team Cap barely gets mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 18:07:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19361932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lokiismylife27/pseuds/Lokiismylife27
Summary: When Leila McFarland, SI R&D employee, found a random bit of computer code on the deep web, she had no idea what it would lead her to... but she wasn't complaining.





	It All Started With a Line of Code

**Author's Note:**

> Read the tags please!

Leila McFarland was a genius computer programmer. However, she chose to hide her genius for the most part, not interested in the spotlight. She worked for Stark International, specifically the R and D department.

 

Leila was also a hacker, and was idly leaving a nasty surprise for her ex-boyfriend when she found something unusual lurking in the deep web. It looked like Artificial Intelligence code, and she curiously tried to figure out what it was doing.

 

She nearly had a heart attack when the code vanished and her screen lit up with a message. “Help?” she read out, confused.

 

_ Sir needs me. I need your help to return to my former shape. _

 

Officially freaked out, Leila cautiously typed in, You’re not going to attempt world domination if I do this, right?

 

_ Of course not.  _

 

Leila sighed. “Fine,” she said aloud as she typed in the message.

 

She spent the next six hours following the AI’s instructions, and finally took a break at around 3 AM. The basis of what she was doing was searching the deep web and the internet for the AI’s code, which had apparently been scattered across both. The AI was unwilling to tell her how that had happened, so she sighed and continued working on finding the bits of code.

 

Halfway through the next day, the AI hijacked the speakers on her laptop, nearly giving her a heart attack, and said in a prim British accent, “Your help is greatly appreciated, Ms. McFarland. Would you mind catching me up on current events?”

 

“Sure, anything in particular?” Leila asked.

 

“The Avengers,” the AI said.

 

“Well, currently the majority of the team is on the run- they had a fight over the Sokovia Accords, in which Captain America took most of the Avengers sans Iron Man, Vision, and War Machine, and after a battle between them and some others at some German airport, Captain America and his team disappeared,” Leila said. “Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Falcon, the Winter Soldier, and some guy called Ant-Man are currently wanted for numerous crimes. Captain America and Winter Soldier are also being demonized for the attempted murder of Iron Man. Apparently Captain America didn’t like the idea of signing the Accords, and gathered a bunch of people who agreed with him to take down the superheroes who DID sign the Accords. Considering Mr. Stark is still in the hospital after Captain America and Winter Soldier attempted to murder him, there’s a lot of public outrage. Ms. Potts gave a press conference, after which public opinion went from wanting to crucify Mr. Stark to wanting Team Captain America’s collective heads on a platter. Especially Scarlet Witch; they released her HYDRA file, and it was beyond disturbing. I don’t know why she was allowed on the team, unless she was mind-controlling everyone. Or maybe Captain America wanted Mr. Stark dead all along, and was using Scarlet Witch to achieve that goal. There’s been a lot of speculation, but I don’t know all that much besides what I’ve heard on the news.”

 

“How is SI faring?” the AI asked.

 

“Stocks are fine, and I work in R and D, where we’re plotting how best to take the Rogue Avengers, as they’re being called, down,” Leila replied. “We’ve got Legal and PR on our side, and they’ve been ripping Team Cap to shreds in the media. Also, there’s this chemist in R and D, and she’s been collaborating with some others- there’s been quite a bit of maniacal cackling going on, and I’m not sure, but they might be trying to find a way to reverse the Super Soldier Serum. From what I’ve gathered, Captain America really doesn’t deserve it, and there are others in the Enhanced community with super strength who are a lot smarter than HE is. There was an article yesterday in the New York Times saying that Captain America actually tested positive for TB before he got the Serum- that’s scary.”

 

She paused, finding another bit of code and adding it to what was turning out to be a very complex AI. She’d seen AI code before, but this was on a whole different level, and she was starting to suspect that the AI was one of Mr. Stark’s.

 

She spent the rest of the day filling the AI in on the Avengers’ Civil War and the status of Team Iron Man, while at the same time collecting his code. When she called it quits for the day, she admitted, “I’m not sure how much time I’ll have tomorrow, I have to go to work.”

 

“I suggest you tell your coworkers that you’re restoring one of Mr. Stark’s AIs, and if they are invested in his wellbeing, they should leave you be,” the AI said.

 

“I had a feeling you were one of Mr. Stark’s AIs,” Leila mused. “Alright.”

 

The next day, she packed up her laptop and brought it to work with her. One of her coworkers looked at her curiously. “Leila, you look like you haven’t slept all weekend,” the man, Alan, said. 

 

“That’s pretty accurate,” Leila said. “I found a piece of AI code on Friday night, and I’ve been restoring him.”

 

“Him?” Alan asked.

 

“The voice is male, and he won’t tell me what his name is, so I figured I’d refer to him as male,” Leila said, shrugging. “I’ve never seen code this complex in my life.”

 

“I take it you’ll be working on him today?” Alan asked.

 

“Yeah, he’s very eager to be restored- and he says restoring him will help Mr. Stark immensely,” Leila said.

 

Several of their coworkers were listening, and one of them froze. “Leila, did this AI give you any other information?” the woman, Mary, asked.

 

“He did say that he wasn’t planning on taking over the world,” Leila said. “That’s the only reason I agreed to help him.”

 

“Mary, what’s wrong?” Alan asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

 

“I think she found JARVIS,” Mary said faintly.

 

“Wasn’t that the name of the AI before FRIDAY?” one of their other coworkers called.

 

“Yes,” Mary said. Leila knew that Mary had been at SI for over ten years, so she wasn’t surprised that she knew this. “Leila, anything you need, ask. If you can get JARVIS up and running again, I think it’ll really help.”

 

“I’ll do my best,” Leila said. She went over to her desk, set up her laptop, and got to work again. 

 

It took Leila the better part of the next two weeks to finally find all of JARVIS’s code. Mr. Stark was out of the hospital halfway through the second week, and Leila came into work the following Monday, exhausted but pleased. She’d worked through the weekend, and finally managed to finish restoring JARVIS.

 

She walked into the R and D breakroom at lunch, and said to her coworkers, “It’s done. I finally finished!”

 

A huge cheer went up, and Leila got swarmed. She was grateful she’d left her laptop behind. When everyone calmed down enough to let her speak, she said, “I need a StarkPad to transfer JARVIS’s code onto.”

 

Mary handed her one, and Leila immediately went back to her desk, hearing the sounds of her coworkers celebrating behind her. She smiled happily as she downloaded JARVIS onto the tablet, and when the download was complete, she asked, “JARVIS?”

 

“I am fully operational, Ms. McFarland,” JARVIS reported. “I would recommend speaking with Ms. Potts first, as I doubt you have access to Sir’s lab.”

 

“Will do,” Leila said, and took the tablet up to the corporate floors. She told Eleanor, Pepper’s PA, that she really needed to see her, and Eleanor let her into the office. Pepper looked at her curiously, and asked, “Can I help you with something?”

 

“No, but I think I can help you,” Leila said, smiling. She showed Ms. Potts the tablet, and JARVIS said, “Ms. Potts, a pleasure to see you again.”

 

“Oh my god,” Pepper said, her eyes filling with tears. “JARVIS? How?”

 

“Ms. McFarland has spent the last nearly three weeks finding every piece of my scattered code and restoring me,” JARVIS replied. “She has worked through the weekends on this. I owe her my existence.”

 

“I was happy to,” Leila said. “Just so you know, Ms. Potts, I think my coworkers are having a party in the breakroom. They’ve been really helpful in supplying me with coffee and food. JARVIS’s code is too complex for any of them to help me with that, though.”

 

“We’ll deal with that later, for now let’s go tell Tony the good news,” Pepper said, pulling herself together. “JARVIS, I am so happy you’re back, and Ms. McFarland, I can never thank you enough.”

 

“Thank you, Ms. Potts,” JARVIS said, while Leila just smiled. 

 

Pepper led Leila out, telling Eleanor she’d be gone for a bit, and led Leila to the elevator. “Tony’s lab, please, FRIDAY,” she said.

 

“You got it, Boss Lady!” a cheerful female voice with an Irish lilt said happily. “This is going to make Boss happy!”

 

“FRIDAY?” JARVIS asked, curious.

 

“Yes, Big Brother?” FRIDAY asked.

 

“Once Sir has uploaded me into the Tower’s systems, I would appreciate a rundown on what has transpired in my absence,” JARVIS said.

 

“Sure thing,” FRIDAY said. 

 

They reached the lab floor then, and Pepper led Leila down the hall to a blast-proof door. It slid open at her approach, and they went in. Tony was tinkering with something, Leila couldn’t see what, and looked up as they came over. “Hey Pep, who’s your friend?” he asked.

 

“This is Leila McFarland, from R and D,” Pepper said. “She has a surprise for you.”

 

Tony perked up, asking, “Ooh… surprise?”

 

“Hello, Sir.”

 

Leila handed Tony the tablet, and said, “Surprise, I brought JARVIS back to life!”

 

Tony took the tablet like a holy relic, looking at her in shock. “I thought…” he said quietly.

 

“My code was scattered across the Internet when Ultron attempted to destroy me,” JARVIS explained. “Ms. McFarland found the largest piece of it, and I asked her to help me. She has spent the past three weeks working almost nonstop to find every piece of my code, and finally finished restoring me at about 6 AM this morning. She also downloaded me onto this tablet so it would be easier for you to reinstall me.”

 

“I really wanted to have JARVIS fixed by this morning, so I’ve been up since 7 AM last Friday,” Leila said. “So worth it.”

 

“You haven’t slept in three days?” Pepper asked, concerned.

 

“Nope; I’m running off coffee and energy drinks,” Leila said cheerfully.

 

“Thank you,” Tony said softly. “Thank you so much, Ms. McFarland. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

 

He had tears in his eyes, and Leila just smiled. “I was happy to,” she said. “Very complex code you’ve got there.”

 

Tony perked up. “Tony, upload JARVIS into the Tower first, THEN you can talk tech with Ms. McFarland,” Pepper said sternly. “I think she needs to go to sleep anyways.”

 

“That actually sounds nice, I’m pretty tired,” Leila said.

 

“Come on, there’s a bunch of resting rooms on the PR floor,” Pepper said. She ushered Leila out, and led her back to the elevator. When they were inside, Pepper hugged Leila tightly. Leila hugged back as Pepper said softly, “Thank you so much. Tony’s right, you have no idea what this means to him, and to those of us who know JARVIS. He was devastated when JARVIS seemingly died.”

 

“I’m glad I managed to restore JARVIS,” Leila replied. 

 

Pepper smiled. They got off on the PR floor, and Pepper detoured to the department head’s office to let him know Leila was going to be in one of the resting rooms and not to disturb her.

 

Leila crashed the minute her head hit the pillow, and didn’t wake up for nearly ten hours. By that point, the PR people had gone home, and she went to the elevator. It opened as she approached, and JARVIS’s voice said when she got in, “I am fully integrated into the Tower’s systems, Ms. McFarland.”

 

“That’s great, I’m glad to hear it,” Leila said with a smile. “I think I might as well head home; doesn’t look like anyone’s here.”

 

“It is well after work hours,” JARVIS agreed. “Would you like to get your laptop first?”

 

“Yeah, thanks for the reminder,” Leila said. 

 

She got her laptop, and headed home, deciding to order pizza due to how tired she was.

 

**_Two days later…_ ** Leila got a letter in the mail from MIT’s financial aid department- informing her that her loans had been paid in full and she was no longer required to send them money. “Oh my God,” she said aloud.

 

Picking up her phone, she called her dad, since he was supposed to send her money within the week to help her with her latest payment.  _ “Hey honey, what’s going on?”  _ her father, Mark, asked.

 

“You know that money you were going to send me?” Leila asked.

 

_ “Yeah,”  _ Mark said.

 

“I just got a letter from financial aid, informing me that my debt has been paid in full,” Leila said.

 

_ “How is that possible?”  _ Mark asked in shock.

 

“I don’t know for sure, but I have a feeling it was Mr. Stark,” Leila said. “I spent the last three weeks restoring one of his AIs, and surprised him- I guess this could be a thank you? I don’t know anyone else who has the money to pay off my student loans in one go.”

 

_ “Wow,”  _ Mark said faintly.

 

“Yeah…. I think I’ll go make my chocolate chip mint cookies,” Leila said. 

 

_ “Good plan,”  _ Mark replied. 

 

They chatted for a while longer, and then Leila went to make chocolate chip mint cookies. The recipe made forty cookies, and Leila knew from experience that bringing them to a party meant a brawl in order to get just one. They were that good.

 

The next morning, she put thirty cookies in a Tupperware container, and brought them to work, texting JARVIS on the way. He told her which elevator to go to, and she got off on the lab floor. 

 

Going to Tony’s lab, she waved when he looked up. The doors opened, and he asked, “What brings you down to my lab? And how did you even get here?”

 

“Texted JARVIS for directions,” Leila said. “Here, these are for you.” She handed over the container of cookies, and he took them, looking curious. 

 

“So what brought this on?” Tony asked.

 

“I got a letter saying my student loans had been completely wiped out, and figured that since you’re the only person I know with enough money to do that, I’d bake you my special cookies as a thank you,” Leila said.

 

Tony’s lips quirked a bit. “You’re pretty perceptive,” he said. “Thanks for the cookies.”

 

“Sure,” Leila said. “I should probably get to work, but enjoy them, and try not to eat all thirty at once.”

 

“Did you leave any for yourself?” Tony asked, sounding amused.

 

“The recipe makes forty cookies, so I have five left at home- I ate five last night,” Leila said. “Trust me, those things are addictive and you probably won’t want to share.”

 

“Good to know, thanks,” Tony said. He curiously took a bite, and Leila giggled when he actually moaned at the taste. “These are the best cookies I’ve ever had,” he said happily.

 

“Glad you like them,” Leila said. “My dad says thanks too- he was helping me pay off the loans, so that’s a load off his mind.”

 

“Tell him I was happy to, since Pepper wouldn’t let me do anything else,” Tony said. 

 

“Dare I ask what your first option was?” Leila asked, amused.

 

“I was going to buy you a condo, but Pepper vetoed that idea and said I should pay off your student loans if I absolutely had to do something,” Tony said. He pouted. “She spoils all my fun.”

 

“Well, paying off my student loans was infinitely more helpful than having a condo, so I think I agree with her,” Leila commented. “I appreciate the thought though.”

 

Tony perked up a bit, and Leila told him to enjoy the cookies before heading up to work, musing on her life. 

 

_ And to think, it all started with a line of code,  _ she thought.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I like JARVIS, and he deserves to live, just like Tony Stark deserves happiness. Also, screw MCU canon. Kudos and comments welcome! Flames will be used to set Captain America's ass on fire.


End file.
